Students’ MCAS score histories are used to calculate student growth percentiles (SGP). SGPs measure students relative to their academic peers; higher is better, while lower can be more detrimental. A mean SGP provides a summary of group SGPs; it can be displayed at school, district, or student group level and used as an indicator of areas of success or improvement within schools and districts; additionally they use mean SGP data in federal ESSA accountability systems while school report cards still utilize value-added growth measures (if available).

SGPs offer educators valuable data that they can use to guide instruction, enhance teaching practices, and support learners. Each state’s SGP website also provides access to tools for analyzing, interpreting, and visualizing data gathered through SGPs; these are invaluable resources for educators, data teams, and administrators.

SGP analysis can be easily applied, yet it’s essential to grasp its fundamentals before undertaking more complex analyses. After gathering your data, the first step should be preparing it and conducting analyses – with SGP analyses often iterative in nature, meaning changes may need to be made in order to achieve desired results.

The SGP website offers various tools for analyzing SGP data, such as viewing a SGP graph by demographic groups. The graph displays mean SGPs for each demographic group as well as their location on the distribution, helping educators quickly identify and prioritize student groups that require extra care and attention.

“Group” in Student Growth Performance measures refers to demographic groups such as gender, race/ethnicity, disability status and multilingual learning. A group’s mean SGP score is then compared with that of its academic peers to determine if its performance matches or surpasses state average performance levels.

Created a mean SGP requires at least two years of assessment data on every student, although the exact amount varies based on grade level, school/district and subject matter areas (Reading, Math and/or Science). Each year is considered a testing window.

The data sgp package offers four sample data sets suitable for SGP analysis. sgpData specifies WIDE format data used by lower level functions like studentGrowthPercentiles and studentGrowthProjections; two other data sets (sgptData_LONG and sgptData_INSTRUCTOR_NUMBER) provide LONG formatted data used by higher level functions like abcSGP, prepareSGP and analyzeSGP as well as creating teacher level aggregates via summarizeSGP function; generally it is recommended that sgpData_LONG be used with regards to any such analyses; most higher level SGP functions require LONG formatted data sets for analysis.